Political Insight | Editorials from the Habledash Team

Super Tuesday was an important day for Republican presidential candidates. Equal eyes were on Mitt Romney, Rick Santorum and Newt Gingrich. Romney was expected to win many of the states, which he did, but his victory in Ohio is hardly worth celebrating. He outspent Santorum there by margin of 12 to 1 and only won by a percentage point. Gingrich needed to carry Georgia, which he did handily. But on the eve of Super Tuesday, Newt received support from a major player in the conservative movement. Sarah Palin announced on Neil Cavuto's show on FOX Business that she voted for Newt in the Alaska primary. Palin has been rather quiet during the vetting process, but this will certainly help Newt. The question is, what took her so long?

Sarah Palin has been awfully quiet during the campaign, which has brought forth many questions as to why? We believe it's for this reason: since she's a Tea Party leader, she knows that she needs to support a Tea Party conservative. However, she likely knew that Michelle Bachmann did not stand a good chance, and therefore she didn't want to endorse someone that wouldn't last long. When it comes to Rick Santorum, she knows that the Tea Party would like her to support him, but likely believes Newt has the better solutions and the will to take the fight to Obama. This could be why she's remained so quiet, as to not let down her core base. It's pathetic, really, but it's reality.

Here is what Palin had to say about Newt Gingrich:

“I considered who can best bust through the Orwellian Obama rhetoric that we heard more of today in Obama’s press conference talking about another insolvent and unconstitutional bailout that has no funds to finance — another program that he wants to kind of forced down our throat. Who can best bust these ideas of America never taking steps towards energy independence and we have the natural resources here and can do it, and who can best bust through that radical left dispensation and desire to mistreat those who are defenseless, mistreat those who perhaps have some disadvantages by making them more beholden to government? Who best can contrast themselves from that?”

Who was that? Palin said it was Gingrich, the “cheerful one.”

“I thought who best could do that — my own personal opinion — is the cheerful one, Newt Gingrich,” she said. “I have appreciated what he has to for — stood boldly for. He has been the underdog in many of these primary races and these caucuses, and I’ve respected what he has stood for. Up here what we have — it’s not a primary, basically it’s not even a caucus — it’s a presidential preference poll. My preference tonight was for the cheerful one.”

As previously mentioned, is this too little, too late? Sarah Palin is a big name, but will her support help take votes away from Romney and Santorum? We shall see.